Chichester Runners coast to success – along the beach

A field of nearly 450 turned out in good conditions and were soon headed by Chichester’s in-form veteran Mike Houston and Liam Briscoe from Fittleworth Flyers.

After just over 26 minutes of running over the five-mile course Houston prevailed by 12 seconds over Briscoe.

Wesley Sdams was 11th and Mikeey Kwoka 14th, with Max Draper and veteran Jim Garland also gaining the maximum 10 bonus points, in 21st and 26th.

Jason Oadley and Steve Davey were 48th and 49th while next to finish was Natalie Haarer in 55th, fourth woman over the line.

Charlotte Readin in 71st, sixth woman, was Chichester’s seventh 10-pointer and with Oakley, Davey and Elizabeth Robinson (22nd F) all registering nine points, Chichester’s bonus tally was 97 out of 100, one of the club’s best scores since entering the league.

A minimum of 25 finishers is needed to score maximum participation points and Chichester had another 30 in action: Dave Reading 86th, Tony Cooley 100th, Matt Isitt 130th, Matt de Lacy 134th, Nadia Anderson 145th (F28), Tim Brown 158th, Peter Sullivan 162nd, Winston Bond 188th, Paivi Lievo 198th (F47), John Miles 200th, Hilary Pollard 211th (F52), Kim Nelson 214th (F53), Jordan McCarathy 218th, Wim Amir 233rd, Catherine Betts 144th (F62), Emily Bye 246th (F64), Sue Barty 253rd (F67), Peter Anderson 266th, John Peters 271st, Andres Spies 276th, Amanda Godfrey 282nd (F82), Will Sisted 302nd, Isabelle Isitt 308th (F97), Peter Shaw 310th, Wendy Whelan (v75) 260th (F135), Sue Baker 365th (F138), Lucy-Jane Isitt 383rd (F149), Sarah Freeman-Smith 384th (F150), Richard Ayling 388th, Ian Stevens 420th.

Chichester fielded half the top 10 in the boys’ and girls’ races. Ben Stewart had another comfortable victory, with Harry Cruttenden a fine third. The other boys in the top 10 were Max Gayle in 6th, Joe Stewart 9th and Alfie Mitchell 10th. For the girls Millie Isitt was second followed by Anabella Hollands 5th, Leilani Stott 6th, Mia Hollands 7th, Molly Hollands 9th and Molly Bye 10th.

POTTER RECORD

Chichester’s top under-23 distance runner, Ned Potter, has continued his rich vein of form by obliterating the club’s 5000m record.

His achievement came in a recent British Milers club world challenge meeting in Manchester.

The Loughborough University student had previously broken the 30-minute barrier for the gruelling 10,000m and lined up against a strong field in Manchester.

It was headed by Leeds City athlete Emile Cairess who set the steets of London alight recently by setting the third fastest ever time by a British marathon runner with a sparkling 2hr 8min 7sec, a time bettered only by Mo Farah and Steve Jones.

This was the ideal competition for Potter, who latched on to the pace from the gun and settled into 66-second laps, a pace for a sub 14 minute time.

Cairess kept the pace and was eventually just a little too good for his rivals.

But Potter drew on all his reserves to cross the line in 13min 53.48sec to break the magic 14-minute barrier and leave a host of talented athletes – including the 2023 Nataional cross country champion – in his wake. Potter’s new UK ranking is fifth in the under-23 class and just inside the top 30 senior men.